


Julius Caesar

by barricadebastard



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Anniversary, Fluff, Kittens, M/M, Pets, Roommates, Thomas seduces Hercules with a kitten, but like.... a platonic anniversary, it works, its their roommate anniverary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-26
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-09-12 10:24:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9067597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/barricadebastard/pseuds/barricadebastard
Summary: Thomas and Hercules were accidental roommates. Thomas accidentally ended up falling in love with said roommates. Buying a kitten for said roommate and asking them out? Well, not so much of an accident.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ashilrak](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashilrak/gifts).



> i just,,,,, need more of this ship in this fandom okay

Thomas and Hercules were accidental roommates. 

Firstly, it should be known that Thomas did  _ not  _ need a roommate for financial issues. Most people who had roommates were in it for the money, or, more specifically, splitting rent and not dying a long and painful death via starvation. Thomas was not one of these people. He had enough money to buy every mansion in all of Europe and happily stay his ass in France for the rest of his life. In fact, whenever he mentioned the fact that he had a roommate, he was sometimes met with quizzical stares. 

Thomas might not need a roommate for financial issues, but he did need a roommate. 

It wasn’t a well-known fact that Thomas was actually terrible at taking care of himself. He couldn’t cook, and had burnt many a meal that not even James Madison could salvage. He could manage a few dishes to perfection, and would only cook them when he had guests. Otherwise? Well, his diet was, frankly, alarming, and was awful enough to rival even that of Alexander’s, though Thomas would argue greatly to the contrary if confronted about it. He lived off microwaveable meals and children’s food. He would argue to James that there was no point in putting effort into dinners when he wasn’t looking to impress anyone.

He would often forget to clean up after himself, and would leave his clothes scattered around the room like crisp golden leaves fallen in the autumn. Laundry was only done when James came over and stared Thomas down until he was shamed into some semblance of hygiene. Despite the mutinous muttering that could be heard under his breath, Thomas was actually glad for James’ frequent visits, because he knew himself well enough to know that he would never clean up unless he was fixed with that disappointed gaze that seemed to be the only thing that propelled him into cleaning up.

A large part of this was due to being spoilt. Thomas had grown up rich, and thus had never experienced  _ cleaning  _ or any other adult responsibilities. And now that he was living alone? It showed.

Despite all the charm and grace he exuded around company, Thomas was a mess. The only way to make him consistently avoid acting like a snob? Well, of course, company. 

When James had first suggested Thomas getting a roommate, he was met with a disparaging snort. “Why the hell would I want a roommate?” Thomas had asked, leaning back against the wall, his trademark smirk fixed firmly on his face. And then James had pointed out that Thomas was seemingly incapable of motivating himself to clean up, and hopefully the embarrassment of his mess being seen by someone other than James would get him to actually do something about it. Thomas had thought long and hard about it, and decided that, well, maybe a roommate didn’t sound too bad.

Hercules, on the other hand, had a very simple reason for wanting a roommate: money. Being a tailor did not bring in much money when he was so new at his job, and starting his own business had drained his wallet into a dry and miserable desert when compared to the luxurious oasis of Thomas’ own bank account. And although his business was slowly working out, he needed a place where the rent was a little cheaper and did not make Herc want to consider a new career as an assassin or something equally dubious in morality and legality. He had two main options he was debating between: get a new place that was cheaper and almost definitely shittier, or live with a roommate. He had chosen the latter. And  _ no,  _ his decision had not been influenced whatsoever by how gorgeous Thomas Jefferson was. It was just a nice house, nice enough that Hercules even ditched his plans to get a cat when Thomas insisted on a ‘no pets’ rule.

They had been roommates for almost a year, and their dynamic seemed to work pretty well. Hercules had a handsome face to look at every day and spent less time worrying about money, and Thomas was significantly neater when he was aware of a certain attractive man being around to judge him. When James asked, Thomas would claim that Hercules could perfectly replicate James’ disappointing stare, but the other man knew him well enough to recognise that Hercules’ looks definitely played into Thomas’ willingness to clean up and eat something that wasn’t ready-made mac-and-cheese. And now it was three days from their roomie anniversary, and Thomas wanted to do something nice. 

Lounging on his bed and idly scrolling through Instagram, the idea came to him when John Laurens posted a video of a beautiful ginger cat stretching gracefully under the warm glow of the sun shining through the window. He watched those tiny but sharp claws contract and retract, his mind already running through all the reasons why this was a terrible decision. He texted Laf, and, after half an hour, he was in his car and driving his way to the house of a man called John Andre. 

Now, Thomas was well aware of Hercules’ love for cats. It was impossible  _ not  _ to know when Hercules was constantly shoving cat videos under his nose and lamenting about his lack of pets due to their own little roommate version of Magna Carta, the latter accompanied with sharp looks in Thomas’ direction. He felt bad, slightly, for putting the rule in place, especially when Hercules ended up spending more time at James’ place  _ just  _ because he had a cat. Thomas had been planning on removing the rule soon anyway. His main reason for such aversion towards pets was because he was sure that it would only contribute to the mess. But considering how neat Hercules already was, he doubted a small feline companion could do much to change that. Now that he had actually gotten to know Hercules, he was sure that a few tweaks to their rules would probably make their dynamic flourish, right? Especially if that tweak the particularly kitten that was in Thomas’ lap at the current moment. 

“What's her name?” Thomas asked, eyes still fixed on the snoozing pet. 

“Well,” John Andre, apparently a close friend of Lafayette, considering the other man had directed him towards him, hesitated, “It's French and a little difficult to say, so you can name her whatever you want.”

“What do  _ you  _ call her?” Thomas asked, now even more intrigued than earlier. Perhaps this was an opportunity to show off his French?

“Ghyslaine Beaugendre.” 

Or maybe not.

Thomas thought of picking a name, right there and then, but decided that he would save that privilege for Hercules. He thanked John profusely, shook his hand, but as he was leaving the door, the man placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping him. When Thomas shot him an inquisitive look, he glanced away, looking embarrassed. 

“I, uh, I just think… You really should go for it if you like him so much.” When Thomas still looked confused, he added hastily, “I don’t mean to overstep, but…Gilbert told me about the man you're getting Ghyslaine for, and that you’re both interested in each other but neither of you have made a move.”

Oh.  _ Both?  _ That was… interesting. Thomas’ mind was reeling, trying to process the new information, but John was still talking, his words picking up heat. 

“-And I get that it's terrifying to change a dynamic you're already happy with, but you've got to take risks sometimes, you know?”

John talked too much, Thomas decided. But that was not necessarily a bad thing, especially when he had just told him one particular detail that could change everything. 

“So I'll pick up the cat in two days?” he prompted, instead of responding to John's little motivational speech.

“Oh, sure.”

As Thomas made his way to his car again, he couldn't get his mind to quieten down. From what John had said, it seemed like Hercules was interested in him  _ back,  _ something Thomas had only entertained in the early hours of the morning, when he was still too bleary and half-asleep to rationalize what a terrible idea it was to fantasise about his roommate. Thomas wasn't oblivious, he  _ knew  _ he was attractive and could garner the attention of anyone who was inclined towards men, but… Well, it had strangely never occurred to him that Hercules might have been remotely interested. Perhaps it was because Hercules didn't bat his eyelashes or lean into his personal space like so many others did when flirting. Though, now that he considered the possibility, perhaps he should have noticed before…

Hercules had always been very affectionate. It wasn't uncommon to see him pulling one of his friends into a warm hug, picking Alex up and whirling him around, responding to Lafayette’s cheek kisses with one in return, brushing curls away from John's forehead to press a kiss there, etc. That was why Thomas hadn’t been overwhelmingly shocked when, as he began to warm up to Thomas and their roommate arrangement, Hercules began to show the same level of affection towards Thomas. It was little things, like brushing a stray lock of hair away from his eyes, pulling Thomas’ hair into a bun even though Thomas could do it himself, a hug that lasted much longer than strictly necessary when Thomas returned from a two week trip. Thomas had thought nothing of it, except, well, Hercules didn’t  _ do  _ that with other people. Sure, he was close enough to Alex, John and Lafayette, but they had been friends for years, and it was hard to find a group of friends as close knit they were. Hercules did not show that level of touchiness outside of those three people, but began to extend those same actions towards Thomas after only a few months of living together. It was strange that Hercules did not keep his distance, as he often did with other people. 

Thomas let his mind wander. Last night, Hercules had ruffled his hair, laughed when Thomas had complained, and then proceeded to fix it for him. Two days ago, Hercules had given Thomas a massage that had resulted in Thomas hiding in his bedroom and taking refuge under his covers. That morning, Thomas had been complaining about the cold, and Hercules had taken his hands into his own, rubbing them together before releasing him with a bright grin. Thomas had been too busy trying to hide the fact that his cheeks were a tad darker than usual to think anything of it, but would that be something Hercules would do to anyone else? Thomas was pretty sure he wouldn’t. He couldn’t imagine Hercules repeating that action with one of the Schuyler sisters, or James, or Aaron, or any of their other friends. Which meant one of two things: Thomas had miraculously made it into ‘best friend’ territory, which was unlikely, or Hercules liked Thomas almost as much as Thomas liked him.

Hopefully, it was the latter.

Finally, after several days of tense anticipation and trying to sneak cat supplies into his room without Thomas noticing, the day of their anniversary came. Thomas was jittery with nerves, and the only thing that was stopping him from ditching his entire plan was Lafayette, who was busy in another state but frequently sent texts to soothe his anxiety and reassure him that  _ yes,  _ he was sure that Hercules liked him back, and  _ no,  _ he would not embarrass himself, and  _ yes,  _ he could do this, and  _ no,  _ throwing himself off a cliff was not an option. Thomas was sitting on the coach, still texting Lafayette and leg jiggling to release his nervous energy. By the time Hercules had opened the door, yelling to announce his presence, Thomas was almost able to say that he was  _ confident.  _

By the time Hercules walked into the living room  _ in a fucking suit,  _ Thomas was almost considering jumping off a cliff again. 

“Uh,” he managed to say, all words fleeing his mind upon sight of Hercules’ broad chest stretching a white shirt, and the way the suit jacket showed off Hercules’ shoulders, and holy fucking hell, his  _ thighs.  _

“I had a really important meeting,” Hercules said sheepishly. “Some fancy businessman dude. Does it look that bad?” 

Nuh uh, no way was Hercules going to get seconds thoughts and start to feel insecure, especially not on Thomas’ watch. “No, it looks great!” Thomas hurried to confirm. He almost winced at the enthusiasm in his words, and hoped that Hercules wouldn’t  notice. “I’ve just never seen you in formalwear, that’s all. You look amazing.” 

Hercules looked pleased, and said “Thanks, man,” in such a sincere tone that Thomas almost wanted to melt into the couch. God, this was only going to get worse and worse, wasn’t it? The least Thomas could do was get it over and done with. And then, when Hercules rejected him cruelly, he could bury himself in his covers and disappear from sight for the next week or so, with a conveniently timed migraine. 

“Uh, Herc, do you know what day it is?” 

Hercules looked puzzled, and paused to think for a quick second before replying with, “Thursday, right?” 

“And what  _ date?”  _

“Fifteenth, December?” 

This looked like it was going nowhere, and, at this point, Thomas just wanted to get the whole thing over and done with. The sooner he could camp out in his bedroom, the better. “Which means?” 

“It’s Christmas in exactly ten days?” 

Thomas sighed. “I mean, you’re not wrong. But it’s been exactly one year since you moved in.”

Hercules’ face lit up, and the bright smile accompanied with the suit was doing nothing to make him any less attractive to Thomas, which was  _ not  _ helping in this situation. He looked so ridiculously happy at learning this fact, and it took all of Thomas’ considerably impressive self-control to not grab him by his cheeks and plant a kiss on those lips he had spent so much time fantasizing about. “Oh, it is! I never even noticed. Damn, we should do something to commemorate it.”

“Actually,” Thomas said, clearing his throat nervously. “I already have. You know how we have that rule about no pets?” 

“Yeah, what about it?” Hercules asked. He looked cautiously anticipatory, as though he could guess what was going to happen next but didn’t want to gets his hopes high in case they were dashed. 

“Well, I decided that maybe we don’t need that rule anymore.” As a wide, genuine smile slid onto Hercules’ face, he added, “I brought you a kitten.” 

“Oh my god,” Hercules said, looking shell-shocked. “Oh my god. Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. I can’t believe this. Oh my god. Are you for real?” When Thomas nodded, a smile growing on his own face, he only seemed to become more emotional. “Oh my god, Thomas, my man, you’re the best, holy shit. A kitten? An actual, live kitten?” 

“Well, I wouldn’t get you the corpse of a dead kitten, would I?” Thomas couldn’t help pointing out, and Hercules just laughed, sounding somewhat hysterical. 

“When can I see it? Is it a girl or a boy? How old is it? Is it potty-trained? Has it been to the vet yet?” Hercules asked, firing off question after question with little pause in between, his excitement making him seem as though his entire being was vibrating, like the very fabric that encompassed him was mumbling with energy.

“It’s a girl, she’s eight weeks old, potty-trained, been to the vets and there’s no medical problems,” Thomas rattled off the information John Andre had provided him. “As for when you can see her…” Thomas paused, grinned, and said, “She’s in my room.” 

Hercules was out of the living room like a shot, disappearing so quickly that Thomas was genuinely worried that the man might slip on the stairs and break his neck. He listened to the sounds of heavy footsteps on the stairs, the frantic rattling of a doorknob, and then a loud gasp that was audible even from downstairs. Thomas stifled a laugh, then followed his crush and roommate to his room, where he knew there was a pet cage on the bed and kitten supplies scattered around it. When he was at the doorway, he was blessed with the image of Hercules on his knees in front of the bed, hands covering his face and shoulders shaking almost imperceptibly as the kitten, whose cage had now been opened, cautiously explored the bed.

“Oh, god, are you  _ crying?”  _ Thomas asked, incredulous. His suspicions were only confirmed when Hercules fought - and failed - to stifle a sob. 

“She’s so  _ small,”  _ Hercules said, voice choked. “And so, so, so gorgeous.” 

Despite not having the same partiality for animals as Hercules, Thomas could appreciate the sentiment. The kitten was delicate, and covered in soft ginger and white fur that he knew was particularly fluffy to the touch, with wide blue eyes and a distinct marking of ginger across the bridge of her little kitten nose. 

“She is,” Thomas agreed. “Please don’t cry, you’re scaring me.” 

Hercules sniffled, before finally removing his hands from his face. His cheeks were damp with tears, and he wiped the wetness away impatiently with the back of a hand. Thomas was still pretty sure that Hercules had not touched the kitten, and had not even interacted with her apart from unlocking the cage, but he was watching her with such rapt fascination that Thomas almost felt sorry for breaking the silence with, “Do you want to pick her up?” 

“But she’s so small,” Hercules argued immediately, even as his hands reached out towards the kitten that was now pawing curiously at Thomas’ pillow. “I feel like I’ll break her.” 

“You won’t,” Thomas promised, and that was all Thomas needed to reach out towards her, scooping her small body into his large hands and carefully cradling her to his chest. His eyes began to water again, and he looked close to breaking out into actual sobs, so Thomas moved to stand behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder in a silent gesture of support and possibly a silent beg to not cry, because goddamnit Thomas couldn’t handle it when the other man was crying. 

“What’s her name?” Hercules asked, his voice quieter as though scared to startle the kitten. Just as Thomas was about to reply, the small pet meowed, and Hercules squealed in his excitement, cutting off anything that Thomas was about to say. Perhaps Thomas should have been irked by being completely forgotten, but it was difficult to when Hercules looked so damn happy. 

“Her previous owner gave her a French name, but you can name her whatever you want?”

“Oh god, that’s a lot of responsibility,” Hercules murmured, stroking her little head with his finger. She purred, a small rumbling noise that was barely audibly, but was clearly affecting Hercules, if his emotional smile told Thomas anything. He continued to scratch carefully behind her ears, before making his way down to underneath her chin. The kitten raised her head, clearly vying for more touches. “Uh, Athena’s a pretty nice name for a cat, I think, but I was thinking something…  _ more,  _ ya know?” 

“When you say ‘more’, are we talking ‘Hechtonchires’ kind of more of…?” 

Hercules laughed, a beautiful sound that made Thomas bite back his own smile. In the second that Hercules didn’t stroke the kitten, she butted her head against his hand, and he returned to running his blunt nails down from the top of her head. “Might be a little bit of a mouthful, but I was thinking something closer to Caesar or something.” 

“Caesar’s a good name for a kitten,” Thomas agreed. “Cute and quirky.” 

Hercules nodded, before smiling at the kitten. “Hey, Caesar? You like your new name? You gonna be a good kitty for us?” 

Thomas had to stifle his laughter at the sound of Hercules baby-talking a kitten. It was ridiculously endearing, more so than it should have been, and if Thomas didn’t do something soon, he was going to chicken out of his plan. He  _ couldn’t  _ back out now, not when Lafayette had spent so long preparing him, and all those hours he had spent on calming his nerves. The least he could do was spit it out, then run as fast as possible and bunk over at James’ place.

“Uh, Herc?” 

Hercules hummed, clearly distracted. 

“I wanted to tell you something kind of important, and I want you to  _ not  _ freak out.” The last thing Thomas would be able to handle would be Hercules having a huge reaction about Thomas’ crush and blowing the entire thing out of proportion until their friendship was beyond repair.  _ That  _ would break his heart a billion times more than the typical run-of-the-mill lets-still-be-friends rejection. Though, now that he thought about it, maybe it would be more painful to continue living with him when he had clearly stated that he had no romantic feelings for him and wanted to just be friends. At least if Hercules was disgusted, he'd move away and move on, but continuing to be friends… 

Thomas really needed to stop thinking about the possible consequences of Hercules’ rejection when he was seconds away from confessing to him.

“Well, what is it?” Hercules asked, finally looking away from the newly named Caesar. She took the opportunity to sit back against the blanket and groom herself, small tongue peeking out to lick her ginger fur with patient care. It was obvious that Hercules couldn’t bare looking away without glancing back repeatedly, and Thomas noted that his eyes still looked a tad watery. 

“I just wanted you to ask, you know… if you wanna get dinner?”

Hercules’ face lit up. “Sure, I haven’t eaten yet. What are you thinking? I could do with some pizza, to be honest.” 

This looked like it was going to be harder than Thomas had initially anticipated. He sighed. “Not- I meant a dinner  _ date.  _ If… If that’s okay with you.” 

Thomas had closed his eyes mid-sentence, too afraid to meet Hercules’ eye in case he could read disgust or pity there. This, unfortunately, meant that he wasn’t aware of Hercules standing up until he felt two large, calloused hands resting on his cheeks and cupping his face. Thomas opened his eyes, startled, to see Hercules standing unnervingly close, his face only inches away from Thomas’ own. His smile was soft, and god, Thomas could stare into his eyes forever. 

“I thought you’d never ask,” Hercules said quietly. “You can be a little dim sometimes, you know?” 

Thomas would have argued, but why would he when there were a pair of lips against his own? 

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed this, kookookarli! it got,,,,,, a little out of hand lmao i was only planning 1k but then i got a little too invested and this madness happened
> 
> (also, guess who has accidentally fallen into the elementary fandom and has started shipping two characters that literally NO ONE ships,,,, haha,,, i wonder,,, who that could be,,,,,,,,,,, hmm,,,,, guess we'll never know)
> 
>  
> 
> my tumblr is now [petty-poetic-and-priceless](http://www.petty-poetic-and-priceless.tumblr.com). it's a poetry blog, pls pls pls support me on there! (also my insta is [dreamers_and_schemers](http://www.instagram.com/dreamers_and_schemers) \- i do photography)


End file.
